Assemblies of God Liberia General Assembly–Gbarnga

The last week of January 2016, we attended the AGL General Assembly in the town of Gbarnga.  Gaylord was the speaker for the evening services.  We had a great conference and launched a church planting initiative that seeks to plant 600-650 new churches by the end of 2020.  To accomplish this, we are instituting church planter schools in each of the six districts.  Attendees showed their support by giving cash and making pledges to accomplish this task.  The conference concluded with a message from our general superintendent and sharing communion together.

Photos with some of our favorite people.

Assemblies of God Liberia General Supterintendent Edwin & Mot Gbelly

National Women’s Ministries Director, Rev Grace Jah

Liberian Missionary to Ghana, Andrew Lendor

Father Christmas aka Santa Claus

A lot of behind-the-scenes work and fellowship take place during the confernece.  These photos were taken on the grounds throughout the week.

We had a great time with pastors and friends and left refreshed and encouraged for the days ahead.  May God call workers into His harvest.

Water, Water….

We recently met with Darrel Larson with Sawyer Water Filters and Randy LeTourneau with Life Wells to discuss how they and the Assemblies of God Liberia can work together to provide clean drinking water for every Liberian household.  Data collection will assist their endeavors and our church planting initiative. I love it when a God-plan comes together.

Pictured with Darrel

Randy, Gaylord and Darrel discussing the water project

Missions International A/G - Brewerville

It was a real treat to be at the children's Christmas program at Missions International A/G Church in Brewerville with Rev & Mot Jimmy Kuoh.

Gaylord sitting with Rev Kuoh

Fredna ready for the children's Christmas program

There were special songs sung by various children followed by the re-inactment of the Christmas story.

The angel proclaiming to Mary that she would be with child...

and confirming the same to Joseph.

The angels declared the good news to the shepherds...

who then went to find the baby with his parents.

The wise men were summoned by Herod.

Receiving their directive to find the Christ child (notice Herod's bodyguards behind him)

The wise men found the baby Jesus and worshipped him.

Parents in every culture strive to capture their children in photo or video.

The 12 Days of Christmas complete with motions

Final seasonal song

Fredna praying over the children at the conclusion of the pastor's message of the importance of sharing our faith with our children.

The service concluded with communion.

What a great way to begin the new year.

That's Entertainment

You may have your movies and your malls, but we have our own means of entertainment.  If you were here, you would thank me for the time-lapse feature.

Christmas Cheer 2015

Here are a few glimpses of my touches of Christmas cheer on this side of the pond. 

 Just remember that one person's pitiful might be another person's festive. 

 As they would say in Liberia, "We are trying small."

in the absence of store-bought wreaths...you improvise and make your own...using local fabric

and then there's the christmas tree

 

the dining area

what do you use to make stockings? leftover fabric from the tablecloth, 

tree skirt and wreath, of course!

the little wooden christmas tree is from mali, the candle dish from morroco, 

and the book of short stories from shelby

i knew those little clearance picks would come in handy scattered here and there

Good News A/G - Sinkor

we were blessed to share the sunday before christmas 2015 with pastor emmanuel zabay and his congregation

the church is in the process of major rennovation...ceiling fans are coming...in the meantime hand fans with various designs were distributed today to be used during service

this little fan made me smile...as if just for me....

but then i looked over and realized that I was not the only hipp chick!

if you look closely you can see that gaylord's shirt is almost entirely wet...it's a good thing he shed the coat before taking the pulpit

 

"the reason for christmas" sermon

signs of the season were all around

what a great way to begin the week of christmas...in church with God's people.